The Sales Bloghttp://thesalesblog.com
S. Anthony IannarinoTue, 03 Mar 2015 03:05:12 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.140.14852-82.912785http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.gifSome Rights Reservedtypepad/iannarino/thesalesbloghttps://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesSubscribe with PlusmoSubscribe with The Free DictionarySubscribe with Bitty BrowserSubscribe with Live.comSubscribe with Excite MIXSubscribe with WebwagSubscribe with Podcast ReadySubscribe with WikioSubscribe with Daily RotationYou Can’t Sell A Weak Value Propositionhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/iannarino/thesalesblog/~3/ibP1Sjey6I0/
http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/03/02/you-cant-sell-a-weak-value-proposition/#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 03:05:11 +0000http://thesalesblog.com/?p=48290<p>It’s very difficult to sell without a compelling value proposition. Today I received a second call from a “radio station” that broadcasts live shows to 150 or more countries over the Internet. The salesperson said that they had researched me and determined that I would be a good fit for their platform. Politely, I suggested [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/03/02/you-cant-sell-a-weak-value-proposition/">You Can&#8217;t Sell A Weak Value Proposition</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com">The Sales Blog</a>.</p>

Today I received a second call from a “radio station” that broadcasts live shows to 150 or more countries over the Internet. The salesperson said that they had researched me and determined that I would be a good fit for their platform.

Politely, I suggested again that I wasn’t a good fit for their platform, and the salesperson wanted to know why. I explained that they don’t pay the “hosts” or “broadcasters” or whatever on their platform, and therefore, no value. I ruffled her feathers enough it came through in her voice when she suggested that I would have to pay them to to be on their network.

I told her that I can already do what they do with a podcast, and I can be found on iTunes and Stitcher and Blubrry and my own site. She asked if I could be found in a 150 countries. I told her that thanks to the Internet, I imagine anyone who wanted to could find me from whatever country they happened to live in, but I wasn’t sure about North Korea.

The salesperson was angry that I pushed back on her value proposition (or lack thereof) and told me that I wasn’t a good fit. I agreed. In fact, that was why I was trying to disqualify myself again.

Some Lessons

It isn’t this salesperson’s fault she has a poor value proposition. Her company’s business model is broken. They are kind of a vanity press for people trying to build a brand, and when the tools and platforms didn’t exist to the level they do today, they may have been useful. She isn’t responsible for her company failing to change.

The business model is to sell me the package and then require me to sell advertisers to make money. This model looks a lot like the publishing industry. Book publishers are interested in publishing books from people who are going to sell a lot of books. But if you already have an audience (and no publisher would want you if you didn’t), then you don’t need a publisher. You also don’t need to pay for a platform to broadcast.

When what your client needs changes, your value proposition needs to change. Ask yourself this question, “What value can we deliver that would make us worth paying for?” (If you want to be great, ask “What value we can deliver that would make us worth paying MORE for?”

If what you sell depends on your clients selling something, your value proposition is likely going to depend on how you help your client sell. [If you have channel partners, there is a lesson here for you.]

]]>http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/03/02/you-cant-sell-a-weak-value-proposition/feed/0http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/03/02/you-cant-sell-a-weak-value-proposition/Days Off and Off Dayshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/iannarino/thesalesblog/~3/QmuZwM3Sb10/
http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/03/01/days-off-and-off-days/#commentsMon, 02 Mar 2015 02:00:33 +0000http://thesalesblog.com/?p=48247<p>When you take a day off, you plan to not do your work. You plan to disengage for a little while to refresh, recharge, and reset. This is one of the most important and responsible things you can do. You can grind away and grind away some more, but without taking time off, you are [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/03/01/days-off-and-off-days/">Days Off and Off Days</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com">The Sales Blog</a>.</p>

When you take a day off, you plan to not do your work. You plan to disengage for a little while to refresh, recharge, and reset. This is one of the most important and responsible things you can do. You can grind away and grind away some more, but without taking time off, you are not only grinding away at your work, you are grinding down yourself too.

An off day is the opposite of a day off. When you have an off day, you plan to do your work, but you don’t.

When you have an off day, you allow yourself to be distracted by the Internet and spend your time on Facebook. You click through a few links, and next thing you know you are down the rabbit hole. Minutes turn to hours with nothing to show for them.

Your off day might also be caused by your mental state. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, if you aren’t eating right, sleeping well, exercising, and doing something to eliminate stress, you might wake up in foul mood. If you are in an unproductive state, you can easily find that you have given up half a day or more to your physical and psychological state.

If you haven’t firewalled the time you need for your priorities, then you might find that you have an off day because you have allowed others to make demands of you. Maybe you spent two hours in your inbox, responding to other people’s priorities. Or you allowed people to walk into your office or call you on the phone, giving them the time that you needed for what is really most important.

It’s important to have days where the only thing you produce is a re-energized you. You might even decide to take seven days in a row to recover and regenerate your emotional and physical energy. But there is no reason to have an off day (or multiple off days in a row). This is a recipe for mediocrity . . . or worse.

It’s important to take days off. But it is not okay to have an off day.

Hustlers don’t retreat. They don’t surrender to resistance. And they don’t give up.

Hustlers don’t surrender to setbacks, missteps, or failures. Failures are merely events; they don’t define a person. They are learning experiences to be used as feedback on future efforts.

You know those mistakes you’ve made? You know those times things didn’t work out the way you wanted them to? That’s feedback. It’s not failure.

Hustlers change their approach. When something isn’t working, the hustler changes their strategy, changes their tactics, or changes direction. They might take a more indirect path, but they move forward, always chasing what it is that they really want. Instead of retreating and accepting something less, they use their resourcefulness to find another way.

You know you sometimes feel stuck? You know how you want to seek the comfort of giving up and accepting the consolation prize that is certainty? That is the sign that it’s time to change your approach.

Hustlers push through the resistance. Sometimes the resistance to achieving your goal is so great, you want to go backwards. But a hustler is comfortable being uncomfortable, even when it sometimes makes other people uncomfortable. The last bit of resistance is always the most difficult to break through. Like when you are trying to do ten reps of the heaviest weight you can handle. All of the growth comes on the eleventh rep.

Hustlers have mental toughness. They have the intestinal fortitude to keep going when others give up, give in, and go home. They are driven, and the force that drives them doesn’t allow them to retreat.

]]>http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/28/the-hustlers-playbook-hustlers-dont-retreat/feed/0http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/28/the-hustlers-playbook-hustlers-dont-retreat/If Only One Personhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/iannarino/thesalesblog/~3/2d5u47xYy6Q/
http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/27/if-only-one-person/#commentsSat, 28 Feb 2015 02:00:15 +0000http://thesalesblog.com/?p=48236<p>Last week my Sunday newsletter [sign up here] was about making a difference for others. This newsletter struck a nerve with some readers. More than a few told me it reminded them of their higher calling and helped them deal with their burnout. One reader shared an amazing story of the values she learned from [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/27/if-only-one-person/">If Only One Person</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com">The Sales Blog</a>.</p>

Last week my Sunday newsletter [sign up here] was about making a difference for others. This newsletter struck a nerve with some readers. More than a few told me it reminded them of their higher calling and helped them deal with their burnout. One reader shared an amazing story of the values she learned from her parents.

And one reader sent me a note about being disappointed in having helped only one person. This reader didn’t believe that making a difference for one person is enough.

Starfish

There is this old story about a child walking down a beach covered with starfish. The tide has receded, and the starfish are suffocating in the sunlight. Many of them will likely die. There are thousands of them.

As the child is throwing the starfish back into the ocean, a man says to the child, “Why are you wasting your time throwing these starfish back into the sea? You can’t possibly make a difference.” As the man is finishing his sentence, the child picks up a starfish and launches into the water, turns to the man and says, “I made a difference for that one.”

Just One Person

If you want to change the world, start by helping just one person. If you help just one person, you have already changed the world. You have certainly made the world a better place for that one person.

It doesn’t matter that no one other than the person you helped will know that you made a difference. It doesn’t matter that you can’t help as many people as you would like to. Make the difference you are capable of making now. When you can do more, you will have a chance to multiply your efforts.

]]>http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/27/if-only-one-person/feed/0http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/27/if-only-one-person/A Short List of Self-Limiting Beliefshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/iannarino/thesalesblog/~3/BOyU-eXu8Uo/
http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/26/a-short-list-of-self-limiting-beliefs/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 01:13:30 +0000http://thesalesblog.com/?p=48216<p>These are self-limiting beliefs. They will massively reduce your success and your happiness. I’m Not. There is no greater form of self-limiting belief than beliefs that start with “I’m not . . .” You might finish this sentence with any number of phrases, like “ready,” “smart enough,” “rich enough,” “good looking enough,” or “certified to [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/26/a-short-list-of-self-limiting-beliefs/">A Short List of Self-Limiting Beliefs</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com">The Sales Blog</a>.</p>

These are self-limiting beliefs. They will massively reduce your success and your happiness.

I’m Not. There is no greater form of self-limiting belief than beliefs that start with “I’m not . . .” You might finish this sentence with any number of phrases, like “ready,” “smart enough,” “rich enough,” “good looking enough,” or “certified to . . . .” This self-limiting belief is an expression of your fears.

I Am. This is belief that you use to absolve yourself of responsibility and rationalize whatever it is you are unwilling to change. It sounds like, “I am a . . . .” You might end the sentence with words like “smoker,” or “procrastinator,” or “horrible salesperson,” or “short-tempered.”

I Can’t. This belief prevents you from doing things that you could do, were you willing to try, willing to learn, and willing to put forth the effort. You might say, “I can’t get up early enough in the morning to work out.” Or you might say, “I can’t motivate myself.” Almost anything that one human being can do, another human being can learn to do.

It’s Too Late. You’ve heard this one expressed as, “I am too old to start a new career,” or “I wish I would have done that when I was younger.” You might hear, “I should have gone to college.” The truth is that it is never too late to live the life you want to live or make the contribution you want to make.

It’s Someone (or Something) Else. This is my favorite. This one is “It’s not me. It’s you.” It’s your President, your Congress, the global bankers, the big corporations, your parents, your teacher, the police, your neighbors, or “them.” If it’s not you, then there is nothing you can do about anything. The world is acting on you, and you are powerless, so why try?

I Don’t Have. This is the self-limiting belief that you are not enough, that you are missing something. It goes like this, “I don’t have the education, money, resources, network, right friends, or right abilities.” You were born with the ability to imagine, to be creative, to be resourceful.

It might be difficult to shed these self-limiting beliefs and replace them with self-empowering beliefs, but it’s easier than living a life that is less than it should be.

]]>http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/26/a-short-list-of-self-limiting-beliefs/feed/0http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/26/a-short-list-of-self-limiting-beliefs/Please Stop Doing This Right Nowhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/iannarino/thesalesblog/~3/7URmbWRBAMw/
http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/25/please-stop-doing-this-right-now/#commentsThu, 26 Feb 2015 01:50:38 +0000http://thesalesblog.com/?p=48205<p>I had just turned off the freeway and on to the four lane road that leads to my neighborhood. It was a little before 5:00 PM, and there is always a good bit of traffic at this intersection. As soon as I turned, I stopped my car behind the line of cars built up behind [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/25/please-stop-doing-this-right-now/">Please Stop Doing This Right Now</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com">The Sales Blog</a>.</p>

I had just turned off the freeway and on to the four lane road that leads to my neighborhood. It was a little before 5:00 PM, and there is always a good bit of traffic at this intersection. As soon as I turned, I stopped my car behind the line of cars built up behind the traffic light.

Because I was looking ahead at the traffic, I didn’t see the car in my rearview mirror. I didn’t hear the tires squeal because the driver didn’t hit the brakes. Instead, he plowed straight into the back of my car. He probably hit me at 25 or 30 miles an hour. I had my foot solidly on the brake, and my car still lurched forward enough that I was afraid I was going to hit the car in front of me.

When I looked in my rearview mirror, the driver had his phone in his hand. I believe he had been sending a text message.

The driver is 70 years old, and he drives for a company professionally. He begged me not to call the police, pleading with me that the police report would cost him his job. I believed him. The driver’s nephew owns a chain of body shops, and he promised me that he would take care of all the car repairs. His nephew immediately drove to the parking lot where we moved our cars.

I am uninjured. The driver of the car that hit me is also uninjured, even if he is a little shaken up. My airbag wasn’t deployed, but the safety mechanism in my headrests were activated (and I have no idea how to reset them). My car is damaged, and a number of parts are going to need to be replaced. I have no idea if there is any structural damage to the frame.

But it could have been much, much worse.

If you are driving, please don’t send text messages. There is no message so important that you can’t wait until you stop to send it.

In life, it is good to be reminded of things like this before you are reminded in another, more serious, more permanent way. You’ve just been reminded.

]]>http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/25/please-stop-doing-this-right-now/feed/0http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/25/please-stop-doing-this-right-now/New School and Old Schoolhttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/iannarino/thesalesblog/~3/enNe1PCrD5g/
http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/24/new-school-and-old-school/#commentsWed, 25 Feb 2015 02:00:02 +0000http://thesalesblog.com/?p=48166<p>New school thinks prospecting is sending an email. New school doesn’t follow up on that email. Old school believes prospecting is cold calling and following up with an email. New school thinks social media is where relationships are made. Old school thinks that face-to-face meetings in real life are where relationships are made. New school [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/24/new-school-and-old-school/">New School and Old School</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com">The Sales Blog</a>.</p>

New school thinks prospecting is sending an email. New school doesn’t follow up on that email. Old school believes prospecting is cold calling and following up with an email.

New school thinks social media is where relationships are made. Old school thinks that face-to-face meetings in real life are where relationships are made.

New school spends time behind the screen. Old school spends time in front of clients.

New school thinks that inbound marketing should drive lead generation. Old school doesn’t believe in waiting to have leads delivered.

New school thinks the demo is the thing. Old school thinks the conversation with their dream client is where the action is.

New school thinks value is reducing friction in the purchasing process, that it is in making things more transactional. Old school believes that the value is in delivering a higher level of value and delivering strategic outcomes.

New school doesn’t want to bother anybody. Old school doesn’t believe that helping people is bothering them.

New school doesn’t want to ask their prospective client for a commitment. Old school knows that selling is linking together conversations and commitments.

New school believes building a company is about acquiring investors. Old school believes that building a company is about acquiring paid customers.

New school wishes selling was easier. Old school works to improve themselves.

]]>http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/24/new-school-and-old-school/feed/0http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/24/new-school-and-old-school/How To Not Grow Up or Wake Uphttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/iannarino/thesalesblog/~3/wpA5RGUeV_g/
http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/23/how-to-not-grow-up-or-wake-up/#commentsTue, 24 Feb 2015 02:33:31 +0000http://thesalesblog.com/?p=48159<p>Human beings automatically grow older. But we don’t automatically grow up or wake up. These four things will prevent you from doing either. Only take in things that confirm your world view. The one thing that will prevent you from growing as an individual is to take in only information that confirms your existing worldview. [&#8230;]</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/23/how-to-not-grow-up-or-wake-up/">How To Not Grow Up or Wake Up</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com">The Sales Blog</a>.</p>

Human beings automatically grow older. But we don’t automatically grow up or wake up. These four things will prevent you from doing either.

Only take in things that confirm your world view. The one thing that will prevent you from growing as an individual is to take in only information that confirms your existing worldview. You can pretend that there aren’t other ideas and other opinions, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other truths that are every bit as valid as yours (or maybe more valid). If you are never exposed to new ideas, you are never going to grow beyond where you are now.

Defend your world view at all costs. Entrenching yourself in your beliefs is like allowing cement to set. The more you defend your beliefs, the more difficult it is for you to take in new ideas, new opinions, and new truths. The more vociferously you defend your worldview, the more difficult it is for you to change; it looks inconsistent, sketchy. Once set, it’s harder to break free of a worldview that doesn’t serve you.

Don’t try to understand other beliefs and positions. There is a reason other people share different beliefs and opinions. The circumstances of their lives were different. They were infected by a different set of memes. They have had a very different set of experiences. You can only grow when you try to understand how others came to believe what they believe. If you had been born to the same circumstances and shared the same experiences, you would have the same beliefs. When you wake up, you will be able to take another’s point of view and understand why they have it.

Be judgmental and show no compassion. Judging others for their beliefs, opinions, and ideas that differ from yours is a recipe for stagnation. That judgment can make you feel that you and your beliefs are superior. You grow when you give up being judgmental. You wake up when you are compassionate instead.

The more open you are to understanding, the more you will grow. The willingness to explore another person’s beliefs and take their position allows you to develop a greater understanding of the world, and it provides you with more options for making a difference. This is how you wake up.

You can grow older without ever really growing up, and you can grow older without developing the ability to take another’s position. If you can’t remember the last time you changed a long-held belief, you may need to focus on growing up and waking up.

]]>http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/23/how-to-not-grow-up-or-wake-up/feed/0http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/23/how-to-not-grow-up-or-wake-up/The First Immutable Truth of Businesshttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/iannarino/thesalesblog/~3/nQa2No_4oPY/
http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/22/the-first-immutable-truth-of-business/#commentsMon, 23 Feb 2015 01:11:44 +0000http://thesalesblog.com/?p=48138<p>Clients aren’t an abstraction. If you want to improve your performance, go feel what it is like to deal with the concrete reality of serving your clients.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/22/the-first-immutable-truth-of-business/">The First Immutable Truth of Business</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com">The Sales Blog</a>.</p>

Your business is about serving your clients. It is about making a difference for those clients. That is what a business does, and everything else needs to be aligned around this one idea. Things like “shareholder value” are a distraction.

This is an immutable truth of business:

The people who know the most about clients are the people who actually serve those clients. They know the most about clients because they spend time with them, they deal with them directly, and they are on the front lines when it comes to the challenges presented by serving those clients. No one knows more.

Unless a leader is in front of clients often enough to have that same experience, they think of clients in the abstract.

Unless marketing spends time with clients, clients are a collection of demographic and psychographic surveys and research.

Your clients aren’t names on a billing or profit report.

It doesn’t matter what your title is, and it doesn’t matter how much research you perform, unless you spend time with your clients, you don’t know anything about them, collectively or individually.

No one ever says, “We have a major problem with a client. Let’s see if we can get help from the shareholders. They have a lot riding on this.”

If you want to know how to produce better results for your clients, go and spend time with them. If you want to understand how you can create greater value for the people and companies you serve, go and listen to them. If you want to know how challenging it is to serve those client, go and spend time with the people who are actually doing the work and trying to live your value proposition.

Clients aren’t an abstraction. If you want to improve your performance, go and feel what it is like to deal with the concrete reality of serving your clients.

]]>http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/22/the-first-immutable-truth-of-business/feed/0http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/22/the-first-immutable-truth-of-business/The Hustler’s Playbook: Hustlers Are Ambitioushttp://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/iannarino/thesalesblog/~3/sulLwL8yC3g/
http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/21/the-hustlers-playbook-hustlers-are-ambitious/#commentsSun, 22 Feb 2015 01:15:16 +0000http://thesalesblog.com/?p=48133<p>The hustler is dead set on achieving something, usually something big. The hustler has a fire in their belly. They want what they want badly enough that no one ever needs to motivate them to take action, to work hard, or to do more than anyone else. Their ambition drives them.</p>
<p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com/blog/2015/02/21/the-hustlers-playbook-hustlers-are-ambitious/">The Hustler&#8217;s Playbook: Hustlers Are Ambitious</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="http://thesalesblog.com">The Sales Blog</a>.</p>

The hustler is dead set on achieving something, usually something big. The hustler has a fire in their belly. They want what they want badly enough that no one ever needs to motivate them to take action, to work hard, or to do more than anyone else. Their ambition drives them.

The non-hustler wants a lot of the same things the hustler wants. They want to be more, do more, and have more. Wanting things and a willingness to do the things necessary to have what you want are two very different things. The non-hustler is missing ambition. They don’t have the fire burning deep inside them, even though the tinder is there just waiting for a spark. Without the spark, they never catch fire.

The hustler’s ambition is made up in part of the vision they have of themselves. They can already visualize their future self, and it’s a better version of what they are now. They can feel exactly what it’s going to be like. The hustler believes and behaves as if they are already that future version of themselves. Their ambition helps them to make that vision a reality.

The non-hustler can’t see a better future self. They just don’t see it, even though it is there should they ever be struck with ambition. Most of the time the lack of vision also comes with a scarcity mindset, and that mindset is what keeps them from ever catching fire.

When you ask a hustler where she wants to be in five years, she can not only tell you, but she can tell you her plan for getting there in 30 months. The non-hustler hasn’t even considered where they want to be in five years; they wait for the world to work on them, and they drift along wherever it takes them, never pushing back, never swimming hard against the current.

What is it what you want badly enough that you can’t wait to work on it the minute your feet hit the floor in the morning? Do that.